"An incident has occurred today that concerns the entire student body. Academic immorality by one is an assault on us all. It will. Not. Stand. Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to regulation 17.43 of the Starfleet code. Is there anything you care to say before we begin?"
"Yes sir. I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly," Kirk talked into the mic. They had discuss everything he had to do, what he had to say to make sure that everything was at least fair.
The president nodded towards someone in the crowd and Spock stood up and walked to the front standing next to Kirk. Lydia wasn't sure what was going to happen but she was sure this was going to change Jim's life whether for better or worst she wasn't sure.
It was a long discussion on the right and wrong, on cheating, and if Lydia was being completely honest, she really did think that Jim could actually get out of this one. They hadn't presented any evidence against him that was irrefutable. She looked to Pike on the other side. His eyes were fixed on Kirk. This was his boy. Lydia knew he cared about them. They were his recruit, his pride and joy, and he was invested. That's when she heard it. She could not believe that Spock had done it. With one sentence he had taken everything Jim and Lydia were and had made it into a joke.
"You of all peoples should know, Cadet Kirk, a captain cannot cheat death."
It was like the whole assembly had gone cold. Did Spock really believed that saying that type of thing was all right? She could see Jim, who had turned enough towards her that she could see him; his face looked like he had been punched.
"I off all people?"
"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, had assumed command of his vessel before he was killed in action, did he not?"
There it was. It was a whispered secret that everyone talked about. It was the worst kept secret in the academy because everyone knew. The legacies that attended the academy. James T Kirk and Lydia Talbot the children of the heroes of the Kelvin.
"How long did it take you to look that up? And to get the information wrong. My father died a Captain." Kirk asked completely rigid.
"How long did it take you to program the virus that allowed you to cheat?"
"Maybe you just don't like that I beat your test."
"I am Vulcan. Like is not a verb in our vernacular. I've simply made the logical deduction that you are a liar."
"What an idiot I am for taking that personally," Kirk said sarcastically. He could not understand this guy at all. What was his problem?
"Agreed," Spock said. Apparently, he didn't understand sarcasm either. "Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test."
"Enlighten me again."
"The purpose is to experience fear. Fear in the face of certain death. To accept that fear and maintain command of one's self and one's crew. This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain."
"So you are telling me the point of this test is to experience fear," Kirk said standing a little bit straighter. "You keep reminding me that you're a Vulcan. And I'm sure you're really proud of that, who wouldn't be, but isn't it true you people don't experience fear at all? And if that's the case - What's that say about your ability to make command decisions?"
Unfortunately, Spock never got a chance to respond because at that moment a redshirt burst into the hall. Everyone watched as he ran to the Academy President giving him an information that the President read, and turned to the whole assembly.
"We've received a distress call from Vulcan. Every cadet must report to Shuttle Hangar One immediately. This hearing is at recess until further notice, dismiss."
Both Lydia and McCoy move to stand with Kirk as everyone start moving around them in frantic motions.
"Who was that pointy eared bastard?" Kirk asked his friends as they watched Spock disappear.
"I don't know but I like him." The three friends walked away with a smile at McCoy's remark.
Cadets ran around rushing to wherever they had to go. Lydia and Uhura were standing together waiting to be call. Lydia had no doubt she would end up at the Enterprise. She was the best in her year and had actually work on the design of the ship. She and Uhura knew where they were going to be. So it was a huge surprise when the officer called their names and Uhura was actually station in the Farragut. Lydia turned to Uhura completely confuse.
"What the hell?" Uhura asked herself looking around.
"Ny what is going on I thought…"
"So did I," she said still looking around like she was actually looking for someone. "Wait come with me," she said pulling Lydia after her as she literally ran over cadets to get where she wanted.
As she was pulled around by Uhura, she saw Bones and Jim walking away as well. They ended up looking after each other but they had been pulled different ways so they couldn't even talked to each other. Then again, Lydia wasn't going to stop Uhura wherever they were going. She looked ready for murder.
Finally, it seemed she found who she was looking for because she stopped next to Spock still holding Lydia's arm.
"Commander, a word?" Uhura said making Spock move away from some officers almost like, he knew they were going to need the privacy. Again, Uhura pulled Lydia after her.
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Was I not one of your top students?" and away they went again. Wonder if Spock was running from Uhura or he had something very important to take care of. Lydia was betting on the first.
"Indeed you were…"
"Did I not receive a Gold rating for exolinguistic skills, giving Starfleet first place over Kyoto and MIT at the Oxford Invitational?" "An exceptional achievement, to be su…" "and did I not, on multiple occasions, demonstrate exceptional aural sensitivity and, I quote, "unparalleled ability to identify sonic anomalies" in subspace transmission tests?!" "Consistently, yes…" "And while you were well aware that my unqualified desire was to serve on the U.S.S. Enterprise, I was assigned to the Farragut."
Lydia was standing between these two seeing how Uhura manipulated Spock the way she wanted and she loved every second of it. He even looked embarrassed, or as close to as Spock could manage.
"It was an attempt to avoid the appearance of favoritism."
Lydia snorted. Even if the whole academy knew that these two had a thing, which she was almost sure they did, no one would accused Spock of favoritism. First Uhura had more qualifications than even some of the active cadets that were working on the ships right now. Second, it was Spock. Hearing her snort Spock turned to look at her giving Uhura a chance to get closer to him.
"No. I am assigned to the Enterprise."
"I would do as she said, just in case you ask me."
Spock turned once more to Uhura. Their eye held for a second before Spock checked his tablet and made the change.
"Yes, I believe you are," he said in the same even voice.
With a smile and a thank you Uhura turned and pulled Lydia away to make sure they could get down to the Enterprise before someone decided to leave without them, all the while Lydia was holding her laughter in. She didn't know what would happen with their friendship in the next few years but she would never bet against Uhura that's for sure.
It had taken sometime for her commander to find where Lydia was supposed to go. They had send her into the vowel of engineering but this girl had enough qualifications to be running the whole department. Because of this, she had missed the announcement of what they were supposed to find once they arrived at Vulcan. So it was more than a little surprise when she saw not only Kim but Bones and Uhura running towards her. For a moment she wanted to joke about who had died, that was until she saw Jim and the fact that she was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to have such a big tongue.
"Jim? What the hell happened to you?"
He had finally arrived and was trying to get her to concentrate on him. If anyone was going to understand him it would be her.
"He got like this because of something with a Romulan ship and the message." Uhura said trying to tell Lydia what had happened.
"What message? I wasn't here so didn't really hear anything."
Jim's eyes opened comically enough then he turned to the monitor and got the message out. She would understand, he knew she would.
"A storm in space…"
It was everything Lydia had to hear. She knew what Jim was trying to tell her now, and they needed to get to the bridge or they would all be dead. Taking Jim's hand in hers they started running with Uhura and Bones once more behind them.
When the bridge doors opened they ran in and without missing a beat Jim yell "Captain Pike, sir, we have to stop this ship."
"Mr. Kirk! How the hell did you get on board the Enterprise?" Pike asked turning toward the new people on the bridge.
McCoy trying to save the situation stepped in, "This man is under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine. He is delusional and I take full responsibility for…"
"Vulcan isn't experiencing a natural disaster; it's being attacked, by Romulans."
"Cadet Kirk," Captain Pike said. "I think you've had enough attention for one day. Dr. McCoy, return to medical, we'll have words later."
"Yes Sir." Lydia had to give it to Bones. He didn't deserved to be talked like that yet he didn't even flinch.
As Kirk and Spock went at each other trying to talk over the other Lydia couldn't take it anymore.
"Sir," she said stepping into the argument to talk to Pike. "The last time an anomaly like this happen, a lighting storm in space, a Romulan ship attacked the U.S.S. Kelvin. It was the same day Jim was born. You know that. We have read your dissertation."
"Plus," Jim stepped up next to her. "This ship was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attack took place on the edge of Klingon space and at eleven hundred hours last night, there was an escape from a Klingon prison. The escaped prisoners were Romulans, and it was reported that they stole a ship from the prison dock."
Pike turned to Kirk and asked him about the prison break that Lydia had no idea about. She turned to Jim waiting for his response. They needed to get this ship to stop. This was Jim's and her worst fear. Ever since they had read Pike's dissertation they had worried that one day they would come into contact with this ship. The ship that took everything from them. Jim had pointed to Uhura behind them.
"Sir," Uhura said stepping up. She knew that something was going on, something big. Because she knew that whatever it was she trusted Lydia. "I intercepted and translated the message myself. Kirk's report is accurate.
"We are warping into a trap, there are Romulans waiting for us, I promise you that."
For a moment, it was as if time stopped. All eyes were on Captain Pike. The crew was ready to do whatever he said, yet he had to call it out. Pike turned to Spock and for a moment, Lydia thought that they were screw. Spock could have simply turned it around and everything, but Spock surprised them.
"The cadet's logic is sound. And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics, we would be wise to accept her conclusion."
Pike turned to the Comm Officer, "scan Vulcan space, check if any transmissions are being made in Romulan." When the Officer told the Captain, he wasn't sure about how to distinguish between the two he turned back to Uhura. "How about you? You speak Romulan Cadet..?"
"Uhura, Sir. All three dialects."
"Uhura, relieve the Lieutenant, hail the U.S.S, Truman." For a moment, it was like Lydia could see something more. She wasn't sure what was going on here but she was sure someone had just been born, almost an icon.
As Lydia watched her friend doing what Uhura did best, she could hear everything. They kept talking about how there was no communications.
"It's because they're being attacked. Captain. Please."
After a long tense moment Pike spoke up, "Shields up. Ready all weapons."